Christie will be the keynote speaker at the Republican convention in Tampa. What’s wrong with this picture?

Chris Christie has a strong relationship with Hamas terrorists. He’s protected them, he’s even appointed one to New Jersey’s Superior Court. Now Christie, who will give the keynote address at the RNC Convention in Tampa, is calling people bigots if they dare call him out for his terrorist associations.

As a U.S. Attorney, Chris Christie went to war with Homeland Security in order to stop them from deporting a known Hamas Terrorist, Mohammed Qatanani. Once he became Governor, he appointed Qatanani’s attorney, Sohail Mohammed, a Sharia supporting defender of Gitmo terrorists, to New Jersey’s Superior Court. Mohammed thinks Sharia should be the law of the land in America.

Cross another one off the Presidential timber list for 2012. A tale of yet another clueless or compromised politician: “Governor Christie’s Dirty Islamist Ties,” by Daniel Greenfield at Sultan Knish, January 16 (thanks to Dave):

New Jersey, the Garden State, has just taken its first step toward becoming the Sharia State, with Governor Christie’s nomination of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney to detained terrorist suspects, to a Superior Court judgeship in Passaic County. The Sohail nomination continues Christie’s unfortunate pandering to the American Muslim Union and the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

This is less a sign of his innocence, then of the power and influence wielded by Qatanani and the American Muslim Union. There was hardly a top New Jersey public official who did not come out for Qatanani. And that included both of the major candidates in the governor’s race, Governor Jon Corzine and Chris Christie.

Christie called Qatanani, “a man of great goodwill” and “a constructive force“ and allowed Charles McKenna, one of his associate attorneys to testify on behalf of Qatanani. Afterward Christie tapped McKenna to head New Jersey’s Department of Homeland Security. McKenna had spent a good deal of time on Muslim “outreach” and made numerous statements echoing their talking points.

The first Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, Mohammad El-Mezain, was convicted of funneling money to Hamas. El-Mezain had actually boasted of raising almost 2 million dollars for Hamas. And his replacement, Qatanani, actually was a member of Hamas. An ordinary politician might have been forgiven for not knowing this, but Christie was the US Attorney for New Jersey. It’s absolutely impossible that he would not have known the background of the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Yet Christie attended a Ramadan dinner, in the same place where terrorists had fundraised, and kissed Qatanani on the cheek.

Christie offered his personal endorsement of the imam Mohammad Qatanani during a July 24 Iftar dinner at the New Jersey governor’s mansion. In the early 1990s Israeli courts convicted Qatanani of being a Hamas member, but he claims he was not a member of terror group and that he was unaware of the conviction.

Qatanani has lived in the U.S. since 1996. In 2005 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleged that he had “engaged in terrorist activity,” citing the conviction in Israel, but the subsequent deportation case against him was dismissed by a judge in 2008.

Iftar is Muslims’ evening meal during which they break their daily fast during the holy month of Ramadan.
During the July 24 dinner, the combative governor declared that Qatanani “has attempted to be a force for good in his community.”

“I’m glad to have you here,” he said, calling him a “friend.”

Hamas is a jihadi affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters have frequently called for the destruction of Israel.

Hamas is working to achieve that goal, and in mid-June launched its latest wave of rockets at Israeli towns. It also backs jihadi attacks against Jews and against Israeli soldiers.

Qatanani has also worked alongside another imam, Mohammed el-Mezain, as his deputy. El-Mezain was convicted in 2008 of raising $2 million for Hamas through a nonprofit foundation. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

At the July 24 dinner, which was attended by many Muslims and supporters of Qatanani, Christie defensively slammed critics of the cleric, but did not criticize Hamas or the brotherhood.

“There’s a of breeze of intolerance that is going around the country that is disturbing to me,” Christie complained.

Earlier that day, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal denounced peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which rules Palestinian-inhabited towns on the Israeli side of the Jordan River.

“Wake up. Do not allow for these adventures and sins to take place under your name,” Meshaal declared, according to an Associated Press report.

Christie’s praise for Qatanani was first reported by the Clarion Fund in New York.

Chris Christie should be considered a national security risk, and shunned by all. And yet, this is the guy Mitt Romney has chosen to give the keynote address at the convention in Tampa. Mitt Romney is allowing someone affiliated with the enemies of America to represent the Republican Party to America. And the Republican “leadership” [pictured below] is cool with this.

The website Family Security Matters reports Christie is now calling those who dare question his associations “bigots.” This is a long report that not only talks about Christie’s attack on those who actually care about our nation’s security, but also details Mohammad Qatanani, and the acts he’s been involved in. Here are some excerpts:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, often described as a “rock star” in the Republican Party, has finally addressed the criticism of his courtship of Islamists. On July 24, Christie held an Iftar dinner at the Governor’s Mansion, attended by Imam Mohammad Qatanani, a Hamas-linked cleric whose deportation is sought by the Department of Homeland Security. Christie reiterated his support for Qatanani and made the case to his Muslim audience that he is their ally by ridiculing the “bigots” attacking him.

Christie opens by talking about the attacks on “our relationship” (between him and, as he would characterize it, the Muslim community of N.J.) that show a “gaze of intolerance that’s going around our country that is disturbing.”

“These are the kind of red herrings that people put up who are bigots, who want to judge people based upon their religious beliefs, want to judge people with a broad brush,” he said.

He stood by his support for Imam Qatanani, pointing out that he was in attendance and “I’m glad to have you here.” He called him a “friend” that “has attempted to be a force for good in his community.”

To prove to his audience that he is their ally against “Islamophobia,” though he didn’t use that exact word, he cited the controversies surrounding three of his actions: His support for Qatanani, his nomination of Sohail Mohammed as a Superior Court Judge and how he stood against the NYPD’s intelligence-gathering operations in his state. Let’s address these cases one-by-one.

The author, Ryan Mauro, a highly respected terror annalist , goes on to break it all down. Again, this is just a taste of what we are up against:

Imam Mohammad Qatanani

The story begins in 1993. The Israelis detained Qatanani for three months because they believed he was working with the Hamas terrorist group, partially because his brother-in-law was a Hamas leader in the West Bank. He told the Israelis that he had been a member of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood but left in 1991 because of time constraints, not over any ideological split. He admitted to being a member of Hamas as part of a plea bargain and was released.

Qatanani came to N.J. in 1994 to serve as an imam for the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) in Paterson. The mosque was founded in 1989 by Mohammed el-Mezain, who later was convicted of being a Hamas fundraiser. It was in this mosque that el-Mezain boasted of having raised nearly $2 million in the U.S. for Hamas. Qatanani served alongside el-Mezain, even sharing the same address, until el-Mezain handed the reigns over to him.

ICPC had Abdelhaleem Ashqar as a guest speaker, who was accused of being involved with Hamas and was later convicted for refusing to testify about the terrorist group’s fundraising. Another guest speaker at ICPC is Hamas-supporter Imam Reda Shata. When he was the leader of Brooklyn’s Islamic Center of Bay Ridge, he had El-Mezain as a guest speaker. The NYPD put Shata under surveillance as a “Tier One Person of Interest.”

In 1999, Qatanani applied for a green card and did not disclose his conviction by the Israelis as a member of Hamas. The Department of Homeland Security began seeking his deportation in July 2006. A 2008 court filing by the DHS accuses him of “material misrepresentation” and “engaging in unauthorized employment…by allowing an out-of-status alien to reside with him.” It also states that he “has engaged in terrorist activity.” Qatanani sent thousands of dollars to the West Bank and the DHS described his explanation that it was easier than a wire transfer to be “highly dubious.”

“It is certainly suspicious when a person who has been convicted of being a member of, and providing services, to Hamas, who has personal ties to a Hamas militant leader, and a Hamas fundraiser also sends undisclosed cash to the West Bank,” the filing states.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism translated some of his sermons between 2007 and 2009 that show the radicalism he preaches. Here are some highlights:

2007: He prayed that Allah will help “our brothers and sisters in Philistine [Palestine] and Iraq and Chechnya” to “remove occupation and oppression.” The enemy “occupiers” are Israel, the U.S. and Russia.

June 2007: He teaches that Christians and Jews “will be swiftly punished” with “the hypocrites [who] are in the lower pits of hellfire.”

November 2007: He instructs Muslims not to talk bad about fellow Muslims, using Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi as an example. Qaradawi is the top Muslim Brotherhood cleric who vocally supports Hamas and suicide bombings.

January 2008: “You see now that you should do jihad or struggle, to change evil-doing…You know, I mention in so many times that jihad is greater than fighting. It is not only fighting. And you cannot just contain it in fighting.”

May 2009: He prays that Allah will release the imprisoned officials of the Holy Land Foundation, who were locked up for financing Hamas. He said that they were the victim of a “political judgment” and that the U.S. government is persecuting the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America by labeling them as “unindicted co-conspirators” in the trial.

[ …. ]

Sohail Mohammed

In his Ramadan dinner speech, Christie boasted of nominating attorney Sohail Mohammed as a Superior Court Judge and blasted the “hysteria” surrounding his decision and “all the nonsense and all this business about Sharia Law.”

Mohammed was the General Counsel of the American Muslim Union, which has had at least five common officials with the Hamas-founded ICPC. The organization’s newsletter stated that “Zionist commandos orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks” and supports Neturei Karta, a pro-Hamas, pro-Ahmadinejad Jewish group dedicated to the destruction of Israel. The group also declined to participate in the 2005 “Free Muslims March Against Terror,” which condemned all terrorist groups, including Hamas.

Mohammed also spoke out against the prosecutions of Sami al-Arian, a convicted leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Holy Land Foundation. The evidence against them was enormous. He dismissed it and is now a Superior Court Judge, thanks to Christie.

When the controversy first broke, Christie reacted with: “This Sharia Law business is crap. It’s just crazy. And I’m tired of dealing with the crazies. I mean, you know, it’s just unnecessary to be accusing this guy of things just because of his religious background.”

In his speech on July 24, Christie said he had known Mohammed for years. What he didn’t say is how he knew him.

Mohammed was Qatanani’s attorney.

The NYPD Controversy

Christie reminded the audience of how he blasted the NYPD when it was revealed that they had gathered intelligence in N.J. He sarcastically referred to them as the “almighty NYPD,” claimed that N.J. was not informed about their operations, which was “stupid.”

It was an open secret that the NYPD operated in N.J. The NYPD says it did inform N.J. about its activity under Governor Codey in 2005. The orders granting the NYPD permission were even on the N.J. state government’s website.

Christie’s Attorney General oversaw a three-month investigation into the matter and concluded that the NYPD did not break a single law. The audience, of course, wasn’t reminded of that part of the story.

After the conclusion was made, the Attorney General knew he had to meet with leaders of the Muslim community to explain it. Who did he meet with?

You guessed it. Imam Qatanani, as well as the executive-director of the ICPC, Mohamed El-Filali and an unidentified official from the N.J. chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group founded by the Muslim Brotherhood and labeled by the government as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Holy Land Foundation trial. In 2009, a federal judge upheld the label because “ample” evidence proved a relationship between CAIR and Hamas.

Christie concluded his speech with a request to the audience: “Please continue to recommend highly qualified and interested folks for positions in our administration.“

I don’t offend easily, but I am greatly offended that a man of such poor character and judgment is will be allowed to represent the Republican Party to America. I’m offended a man like Chris Christie is even allowed to be part of the Republican Party.

I’m mostly offended by the fact that no one in a leadership position within the Republican Party seems to care.

Some Republicans seem to love it when Christie, a classless lout, calls people who dare challenge him “stupid,” but to me it’s a sign of childish immaturity, and not the way a serious human being would act, let alone a Governor.

Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are terrorist organizations. They are murderers, barbaric killers. They are sworn enemies of the United States. The ones Christie is fawning over are known to be helping terrorist organizations, funding terror world-wide, and undermining our only ally in the Middle East.

It’s outrageous to me that a man like Chris Christie is allowed to be in elected office. It’s incomprehensible to me that he is embraced by so many in the Republican Party.

It’s an insult that this man will speak in Tampa.

Every American should be offended by this, and every Republican should demand Chris Christie be removed from the speakers list in Tampa.

Chris Christie has more in common with this guy, and if he wants a forum to spew his love for terrorists, should be speaking at HIS convention.

Thanks for the posting, Gary (but, to be frank, it was just too long and ugly to read the whole thing – although I’m familiar with a lot of it already, thanks to Pam Geller and BNI) – it just reinforces what a dhimmie that tub of lard actually is!

Between Gover Norquist and NJ Fats, the GOP has DEFINITELY been infiltrated!! Hey, Ray Kelly, get your Truth Squad down to Tampa (and even at next year’s CPAC!!) and give these bozos/jerks the Evil Eye!!

I thought the Republican party was trying to be about inclusion and a party for all people? It sounds to me as though that might not be true. Its almost as if you all have a cheat sheet in front of you with talking points on it and if the person looking to be included in political discourse does not hew to exactly what you happen to believe in they are on the “outside” and as such are subject to all the hate and rancor that can be said of them. Case in point, dhimmie? tub of lard?. Really these are almost vanilla terms compared to many worse things I have read here, but still they are Ad Hominem attacks. Does it please you to refer to people you disagree with in these terms? Do you talk like this in public? Or is this just reserved for that safe “anonymous” region in the interwebz?

The Republican Party is the “big tent” party. More so than the democrat party, which only allows one thought, one ideology. Anyone who wavers from the party line is quickly destroyed.

This is not a “big tent” issue here. Chris Christie is not just hanging around with known terrorists, members of the group Hamas, who the United States government has designated a terrorist group. Christie, when he was a U.S. Attorney, actually fought Homeland Security to stop them from deporting one of these dangerous and CONVICTED Hamas terrorists.

I never use the word dhimmie, I call em what they are, murdering terrorists.

I know being a democrat, you aren’t smart enough to understand what terrorists are all about. Your party has been coddling these violent thugs since the days of Jimmy Carter, if not before.

Hamas and al Qaeda are the sworn enemies of the United States and every single American. Christie is sitting with people who would kill every single American if they could. Not just siting with them, but putting them in positions of great power within the state.

Again, I know democrats don’t care, because they don’t care about the country. In fact many would LOVE to see the country, as it now sits, destroyed by any and all means.

Decent Americans are sick of this nonsense and are not going to just sit back and remain silent.

OMG. I thought we’d chased that nasty troll Maddox away – but I see he’s somewhat of a glutton for punishment…

At least he isn’t TOO upset that I use the language of disdain for muzzie-coddlers – those whom we in the anti-muzturd brigard call “dhimmies” (i.e., those who willingly and without resistance bow to pisslam and Mecca My Day). And, when you look at this overweight & overwrought bully Christie (as briefly as his rantings my be amusing & entertaining), how can you NOT think of that apt expression, “tub of lard?” Lord, folks have been using that disrepectful term about morbidly overweight people since the beginning of time!!

But Maddox DOES, indeed, get his balls in a knot about how disdainful many of us are toward people with whom we disagree (notice I said “disdainful” and NOT “hateful!!”); and, as far as that “Big Tent” description goes, some of us have CORE PRINCIPLES that we’re not about to abandon or compromise just for the sake of “going along to get along!” Of course, Maddox the Lib Prog simply doesn’t grasp the enormous rift that’s grown between the Tea Party Conservatives and the Old GOP Elites of the Establishment (GOPe). It won’t go away, but may finally be resolved by the Conservatives gaining hegemony over the failed, old Dem-Lite RINOS.

Gary you look like you’ve been molested when you were younger. Its clear that you are ignorant and a bigot how are you positive that these folks are terrorist that is a dangerous accusation to make about very well educated and respected US citizens. It’s unfortunate people like you give opinions on a race or religion because it’s also clear you are filled whith hate and emptiness.

Wow, since you have no idea what I look like, and from the temperament of your comment, I’d say you are incredibly ignorant, highly bigoted, and well, let’s face it, incredibly naive, bordering on criminally stupid.

It’s obvious you didn’t actually read the article. Those in question have been CONVICTED of terrorist activities. Governor Sharia Law, when working as a US Attorney, used his office to fight one of these terrorist’s deportation.

Islam is NOT a race, and not really a religion. It’s a political system. It’s a political system that legitimizes hate, murder, rape, and oppression. It’s a violent, barbaric, 7th century way of life.

They oppress women to the point of making them property, not human beings. They slaughter those who don’t think as they do. Pure evil.

Now are all Muslims evil, of course not. Many are good people. But the ones in leadership positions are not. Those running the political system most certainly are. Those Chris Christie has surrounded himself with are KNOWN terrorists.

You Frank, are the one who is ignorant. Ignorance like yours gets people killed.

You realize, don’t you, Frank, that Gary’s avatar (photo used on this blog) is really a very nice photo of the great Ronald Reagan? So, are you calling the great Ronaldus Magnus a victim of child molestation?

Seriously, you definitely are both a tool AND a troll! But Gary has pretty much eviscerted your pathetic statements already, so nothing more for me to add.

I’d suggest that you read up on pisslam and its prophet, Big Mo – and then MAYBE you’ll know more than you do now…

Chris Christie has given support to terrorists and even appointed one to New Jersey’s Superior Court, that’s ridiculous. No wonder we’re losing America. I believe it’s a kick in the face to America and our Men and Women Patriots in our Military who are fighting against terrorism in the name of Liberty and Freedom, when we have some elected officials who support those terrorists who want to rid America of its Constitution and replace it with sharia. We The People need to vote out every elected official who supports terrorists. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. These terrorists organizations have the money and seem to be a lot smarter than some of our elected officials. Democrat, Republican, whatever, America needs Patriots in office who will abide by the Constitution and not cater to enemies of our Liberties and Freedoms. God Bless America and all Real Freedom Fighting Patriots.

Sadly many so-called conservatives absolutely love this pig. Christie is a liberal democrat, who for some reason, pretends to be a Republican. Other than so modest fights with the teachers unions in NJ, Christie has been a straight, across the board liberal.

Gun control, amnesty for illegals, believes the global warming hoax, and so on. You name the radical left wing position, and Christie supports it.